Never happy with my own work

[arther dailey]

I can relate to this, I make and sell garden statue s /bird baths ,you know the sort of thing you see at garden centres, well I get antique pieces, make master moulds/working moulds,then cast from them..yes you make a mistake sometimes I really hate it,as every casting will have that error,the one thing I have learned is to 99% of my customers its invisible, to the point where something I consider really bad sells like hot cakes,where as something that is technically best you can get and even I am happy with is a none seller.
My dad used to say horses for courses,if making a 16 foot truck body 1/16" doesnt matter but regrinding the crank Two thou matters,I often think of that to keep things in perspective.Arther

 

[MCKDAVID]

i get accused of being a perfectionist all the time. I'm not,(well I don't think so anyway) I'm a realist who thinks that you have to do the job to the best of your abilities...

Unfortunately taking pride in what you do is well out of fashion, with the "it's not right but it'll do" mob.... sad times, but quality will always have a place, unfortunately not necessarily a paying one...

 

[the snooper]

I think it happens very often, I hate decorating, it takes me longer then it should as I can't leave things I find like little dents in the wall skirting or door frames, im terrible for it and I know it but can't leave them, making stuff is much the same got to do the best job I possibly can and as mentioned earlier little flaws others don't see we know are there, it's a vicious circle if you let it get to you

 

[Wallace]

Here is an example being happy AND very unhappy with my work making a silk purse out of a sows ear, a bracket that will only be seen at Mot time! What I cut off must have been added by whoever rebuilt the car some years ago, there are four in total and they connect the floor pan to a fibreglass outer sill. The material they were badly made from seems to be some form of embossed aluminium roofing/cladding and the rusty bolts had to be ground off. A simple job to replicate four new ones and bolt them in place, nobody will see them and at least they will all be the same unlike the ones I cut off, job done move on.

So I get to thinking () aluminium isn't the right material for under the car with steel bolts so mild steel will be better. Captive nuts would be nice to save fiddling about with washers and two spanners so Rivnuts it is then. What if the Rivnuts go rusty and one day someone has to grind the bolts off then make new brackets? Best make the whole lot stainless so there's no rusty Rivnuts. Spotweld two thickness's together and tap M5. I've run out of M5 stainless penny washers! No problem, make four clamping plates and linish the ends to a nice radius. An M6 bolt and penny washer to go through the floor and we're done. I've run out of M6 stainless penny washers! No problem, make four stud plates from stainless and Tig weld them together then Sikaflex to the floor pan to save pulling the carpets up if they need to be undone. Radius all the corners on the linisher because you can then deburr everything.

Stand back and admire. Fit brackets. Drop car on floor off car roller and smash fibreglass sill, front panel and rear wing. Go to pub for three days and ponder the method in your madness. Buy fibreglass and resin. Get itchy.

They are lovely brackets, total folly and OTT but the grief they have caused me from repairing the damaged fibreglass makes me very unhappy with my work!

Click to enlarge

 

[Fazerruss]

Very nice brackets. Although I think you could do better. That bend radius isn't tight enough so go back and do them again

 

[Wallace]

Very nice brackets. Although I think you could do better. That bend radius isn't tight enough so go back and do them again

Deliberately shallow to reduce fatigue fractures!

 

[Woody.v8]

I,m the same It winds me up, people take the pee how long it takes me to do things,
I'm really methodical and I don't think you could knock that out of me,
I look at it like this, If it isn't wright its wrong!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@Wallace I was with your train of thought every step of the process.

 

[Wallace]

@Wallace I was with your train of thought every step of the process.

I'm so glad it's not just me!

 

[God mode restorations]

In one respect I am glad it ain't just me ..on the other hand my battle with it continues...I was making new inner wings for my saxo rally race project...all was OK until yesterday......I had finished one side and wasn't happy slight bit of heat distortion on one bit and a radius had a small flat spot...nothing a bit of filler wouldn't solve....but I hate filler...if I need to use filler then I haven't done it correctly in the first place.....I kind of got the hump and one thing led to another and the inner wing is now in my scrap pile.....if I can't achieve the quality and standards I have done before then I will not continue with it.....I have removed all my parts I have made and have scrapped the project....that's the battle I have at moment.

 

[Shox Dr]

It's a trait of been a Perfectionist; Nothing is ever right or good enough, even when all around you tell you different.

 

[Burdekin]

I’ve got a mate who does lovely work and his OCD is off the radar compared to me so makes me feel normal.

I sometimes find that I won’t be happy with something and when I come back to it a couple of days later I think it’s not too bad at all really or I’ve thought of a way to make it better. It’s all just learning and trying to do things well.

My old tradesman use to joke with me, “just do your best it only needs to be rough”. One of the first things I was told by my first supervisor when I started my apprenticeship was, “you have time here to do things properly and to do a good job so take your time and do it properly the first time rather than me telling you to do it again because it isn’t good enough”. And it was true, occasionally we had to rush because the plant was down but most of the time everything was done with the aim of it being done really well.

 

[Shox Dr]

I’ve got a mate who does lovely work and his OCD is off the radar compared to me so makes me feel normal.

I sometimes find that I won’t be happy with something and when I come back to it a couple of days later I think it’s not too bad at all really or I’ve thought of a way to make it better. It’s all just learning and trying to do things well.

My old tradesman use to joke with me, “just do your best it only needs to be rough”. One of the first things I was told by my first supervisor when I started my apprenticeship was, “you have time here to do things properly and to do a good job so take your time and do it properly the first time rather than me telling you to do it again because it isn’t good enough”. And it was true, occasionally we had to rush because the plant was down but most of the time everything was done with the aim of it being done really well.

Pity that ethos has been lost in today's world.

 

[arther dailey]

any one who says "that ll do" working with/for me soons gets elbowed out,its right or it isnt.full stop.

 

[arther dailey]

Wallace ,am I correct in thinking you made the radius on those brackets larger to lessen the problem of stress fractures, well that would be my reasoning. Darn nice job, think we all have done similar re mending one thing only to break another,its sort of par for the course some wheres along the line.

 

[Wallace]

Wallace ,am I correct in thinking you made the radius on those brackets larger to lessen the problem of stress fractures, well that would be my reasoning. Darn nice job, think we all have done similar re mending one thing only to break another,its sort of par for the course some wheres along the line.

Thanks, it wasn't deliberate to lessen the stress, I think the bender was set for another job with thicker material and a test bend went smoothly so I stuck with it.

 

[arther dailey]

either way its a massive improvement on original eh.

 

[Maxakarudy]

Ok, I've read all of the above, all those tradesmen who achieve "Perfection" in their daily work please stand up & like my post........
Ie,Admit who you are...

 

[brightspark]

I've achieved perfection on some of the jobs I've done and some of the stuff I've done is passable but I'm not proud off

 

[Wallace]

I'm making an engine bay fusebox for the same car at the moment, no idea how it will turn out as it's just evolving from the odd space available and around the injection moulded fuse and relay holders. Definitely won't be perfect as I've cocked a Tig weld already, maybe I can call it a prototype. Needs to look a bit out of shape and handmade to blend in on a Jensen!